Rants on Cycling and on Life:
Photos of people and bicycles that pass in front of my camera

9.19.2006

city calming\traffic calming... trying to see all sides

the speed of traffic on my street is out of control

drivers running red lightsdrivers ignoring the speed limitdrivers showing no care or concern for pedestrians in the street

the double yellow line means nothingpeople swerve around parking cars or pedestrians across the street like they are seeking the checkered flag in a NASCAR event

failing to understand that it is effieciency not top speed that will get them their the quickest

since things have gotten so out of control I have started to work with some people in the city to try and slow the traffic on my streetmy voice is being heardbutI do not think they hear what I am saying

like so many the people in power think that they know besteven the people not in powerthe people closer to the people in powerthey think that they know best

the issue of speedbecame an issue of the red light at the top of the hillthey made an expensive modification to the stop light at the top of the hillI tried to tell them that it was not an issue of seeing or not seeing the traffic signalI tried to tell them that people were running the red light with no concernbut... they thought they knew bestthey made an expensive modification that has done nothing to change behavior

occassionally I see metropolitian police officers issueing ticketsoddly.... these tickets are not at the high volume timesthe people who are commuting on this route and running the light each and every day are not the ones being caughtgiving a ticket to the tourist in a rental car passing through one eveningwell... that will not change behaviorthe behavior that needs to be modified is that of the car commuter who willfully speeds through the neighborhood and intentionally runs the red right turn arrow each and everydayyes... every day

being a cyclistknowing that this is a heavily trafficked route for cyclists I offered the notion of adding a bike laneI took measurements of the roadgave them a logical breakdowneven told them some ways to make the bike lane more effective in some placesfor a second it sounded like they heard mebut... somehow my utterance of using a bike lane to give the illusion of thinning the road has taken things a few steps further

the people at the top have decided that thinning the road may be a good ideathe talk of adding a sidewalk on the other side of the street to thin the road is under considerationat first glance I was excited about this ideathen after some more thought I doubted that this effort would would in fact make things more safe

in the current situation it is tough enough for car drivers to park, open their car door, or pull out of their spaceif the roads were more thin then wellit would become more difficult for the residents to park, open their car door, or pull out of their spaceas this is a heavily trafficked area... each parking car or pulling out car would cause some back upthe frequent double parking UPS truck, US Postal Service vehicle, or obnoxious double parking asshole would block up the road worse than ever before

all of this before even taking into consideration of the volume of bicycle traffic that uses this roadright now as wide as this road isit is still very dangerous for bicyclist to use this roadif the road were more thinwell...the bicycle would be forced to ride in "the door zone"while still blocking the flow of traffic behind themthe commuter car traffic is already angry and aggressive to the bicycle trafficthinning the roads would only increase the danger to the cyclist

thinning the road with a sidewalk is not forward thinking

adding bike lanes is not only the least expensive alterationbut also the wisest

what people need to understandif the bike lanes do not give the desired resultsthen the sidewalk plan could be re-consideredbutit the sidewalk plan goes into effectwell... after things get more dangerous I doubt that there would be any reversing of the road thinning

there is a formal walk through this week to discuss the possibility of the sidewalkI have gotten in touch with some folks at the DDOT and WABAthey will attend the walk through and hopefully bring in an alternate perspective

DC is not that different from the rest of the countrythe country as a whole needs to rethink the whole traffic conceptthis is a country that claims to have an obessity epidemic and a fuel crisisthese helpless people are lined up at the McDonald's drive through in their SUVs getting a snack before they go home for dinner

we need to make our communities more bicycle and pedestrian friendlywe as individuals need to be more bicycle and pedestrian friendly

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